


They Need It

by TheBritishGovernment



Category: The Pinkertons (TV)
Genre: Annalee's Perspective, F/M, Getting Together, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 08:09:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9712754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBritishGovernment/pseuds/TheBritishGovernment
Summary: Meddling:1. to involve oneself in a matter without right or invitation; interfere officiously and unwantedlyAKA: Annalee is sick of watching those two be stupid and decides to help.





	

The thing about being a private detective was that sometimes instead of interesting murder investigations, or sensitive government work Will and Kate were pulled into jobs that were more lover’s spats than they were cases, and they were never more popular than in February. One such case had just been wrapped up. No cheating, only money troubles this time, when the pair were sitting at a table in the Dubois talking it over after revealing to the woman what they had learned.

Kate didn’t stay long, citing the exhaustion from all night stake outs and went home shortly after the client left and they had decided if it was worth it to report to Chicago. From the other side of the bar Annalee watched Will watch Kate leave. 

“What are you grinning at?” Miyo asked from her side.

“Will is an idiot,” Annalee said. 

Miyo looked over at Will who was now draining his glass and making his way to the bar. “That’s not new.”

Annalee laughed. “That’s why we like him.”

“Like who?” Will asked, setting his glass in front of Annalee in silent plea for more.

“You wouldn’t know him,” Annalee said with a grin. She refilled his glass and after a moment gave a dramatic sigh.

Will stopped with the glass halfway to his lips and frowned at her. Miyo gave her a suspicious look but took it as her cue to leave. “What?” Will asked.

“I just feel so sorry for Kate,” Annalee said, looking over Will’s shoulder at nothing in particular and frowning.

The laugh that escaped Will was a little surprised and a lot relieved. “That’s not something you hear everyday.”

“Well I do.”

“Why?”

“Next week is Valentine’s Day.”

“So?”

Annalee reached out and smacked Will’s arm. “Her husband. They must have had traditions. And now there’s no one to make her feel special on Valentine’s Day.”

Will laughed again. “Have you met Kate? She’s not exactly the kind of person who would want that.”

Annalee rolled her eyes, shaking her head, wondering how he was missing her point. “She’s a woman. Trust me, she wishes someone would just treat her on Valentine’s. Instead she’ll probably sit at home alone or be off on some case.” 

Will became very quiet and Annalee wondered if she had laid it on a little too thick. He stayed quiet and before Will could question her further or make any arguments to the contrary she went down the bar to serve another customer. Not long after, Will went upstairs, a solemn look on his face. 

Annalee watched him go, victorious smirk plain as day. Miyo appeared next to her, though she was watching Annalee, not Will. “What was that about?”

“Just helping the poor fool. He needs it.” 

* * *

A few days later Kate stood in the same place as Will drinking a cup of tea and waiting for her partner to get dressed. They had an offer for another case, this time the husband of the woman from a few days earlier. Annalee came and stood in front of her friend, ignoring Miyo who was watching her from down the bar, shaking her head at the scene.

“How’s Will?” Annalee asked.

Kate blinked a few times before answering, hesitant. “Fine. I imagine that you saw him last, though.”

“Oh I saw him last night. But you are so much closer to him, and he seemed a little off, didn’t stay down here long.” Annalee sighed. “And I worry about him, especially so close to Valentine's Day.”

“What does Valentine’s Day have to do with Will?” Kate asked, seeming genuinely dumbfounded by Annalee’s worry.

Annalee returned the look with one of her own. “He comes from such an important family. I’ll wager there’s some pressure for him to find a wife.”

“I suppose there might be,” Kate admitted. A sour look passed over her face and was quickly put away. Annalee wondered if it was from the idea of Will getting married or because Annalee had thought of something before her.

“I just wish someone would do something for him, just to remind him that just because he’s not married doesn’t mean he’s alone.” Annalee signed again and waited for Kate’s reply, though it was slow in coming and before she had come up with a response Annalee nodded to the stairs and mumbled, “speak of the devil.”

To that Kate had a response. “You’re late.”

“It’s not my fault I didn’t sleep last night,” he said, coming to the bar. 

As soon as he got there Kate turned around and started toward the door, saying something close to “I doubt that.”

Annalee stood with her hands on her hips and yet another triumphant grin.

“You’re meddling,” Miyo said.

Annalee looked at her and grinned. “They need it.”

The next few days passed in a flash and in such a normal way that Annalee wondered if her plan had failed. Will and Kate hadn’t taken the case from the morning she had spoken to Kate, but there had been yet another insecure rich man who had paid them to follow around his wife, convinced that she was seeing someone else. They did take that case, though they both grumbled about being overqualified for it. 

“I’m not saying I want someone to die, but is it too much to ask for a nice murder?” Will had asked the night of the 12th when they had finished their meeting with the client and clamed him down when they had revealed that his wife had been cheating on him. 

“Will,” Kate had said. “There can’t be a murder without someone dying.”

“I’ll settle for a robbery.”

Annalee blamed the case for ruining her plan because now it was the day before Valentine’s and she was left wondering if it would take an act of God to make them realize their feelings. 

Still when Will came down the stairs that morning he almost surprised Annalee with how early he was awake, though from he bags under his eyes she wasn’t sure he had slept at all. She poured him the coffee without asking. “Hypothetically,” he stared after he had taken the first drink. “If someone wanted to get their partner a gift for Valentine’s Day what would they get?”

“Hypothetically?” Annalee asked, trying to keep a grin off her face. Maybe it wouldn’t have to get all the way to God. 

“Hypothetically.”

“Well if I were a hypothetical Pinkerton agent and my partner were to get me a hypothetical gift then I suppose I would want it to be nice but practical, hypothetically of course.” She couldn’t resist teasing him just a bit, but he was too focused to actually notice her playful tone. 

“Yes, but what does Ka…” he stopped himself short. “What would you need?”

“Never been a Pink so I couldn’t tell you, but heartfelt too. That’s what will mean the most.”

Will stared at her for a long time, though she suspected that he was looking right through her from the glassy eyes. After a while of sipping his coffee Will left the saloon with a muttered thanks for the coffee. This time Miyo wasn’t there to criticize her grin.

Less than an hour later Kate came into the bar and waited for Annalee to finish with another customer, tapping her fingers on the counter in something that was less impatience and more nerves. When they were in front of each other Kate spoke. “I need your help. I can’t figure out what to get Will.”

Annalee was momentarily torn between helping and making Kate say that she was getting Will a present from a couple’s holiday. She decided not to push her luck too far. “You could make him a nice dinner.”

“He likes your food.”

“Nothing beats having someone cook just for you,” Annalee shot back. She was back to pushing her luck, but a romantic dinner alone could be good for those two.

Kate still shook her head, not accepting it for even a second. “He doesn’t ever tell you about something he wants?”

“He does. It’s usually a glass of whiskey.”

Kate let out a quiet hmpf and pressed her lips into a thin line, her eyes far way. Annalee left her like that to go help anther customer. All this and they still didn’t get it. 

Soon after Kate left and Annalee didn’t see either of the agents for the rest of the day, except for when Will came into the hotel and went directly upstairs, not even asking for something to eat. 

She waited all the next day to hear if either of the two was actually going to follow through with their plans. The problem was that no one had talked to either of them since Annalee had the morning before. 

John told her that Will hadn’t been around and that Kate had been quiet the last few days.

Kenji told her that when he had seen Will the day before Will had seemed so focused that he hadn’t wanted to bother him. 

Miyo just looked at her like she was disappointed, but resigned. “They’re going to be angry when they figure out what you’re doing.”

“They’re both too bull headed to put it together. And even if they do they’ll get over it.”

Miyo shook her head at her boss and told her that she hadn’t seen either. 

That left Annalee in the kitchen after she had closed down the bar for the night cleaning dishes and enjoying one of the few moments of peace she got, having to wait until tomorrow to get the truth from Will. That was until the front door slammed open and a voice shourting her name.

She almost didn’t recognize the voice, never having actually heard Will angry. _Maybe they did figure it out_. Annalee came out into the saloon, still empty except for the two red faced Pinkerton agents glaring at her.

“Hi guys, how you doin’?” she asked, allowing herself to grin widely, at least if they caught her she could revel in it.

“Did you tell Kate that you thought I would be lonely because today is Valentine’s Day and my parents are pressuring me to find a wife?” Will all but shouted at her, the blush getting impossibly deeper.

“Not my exact words but close,” she said, only just keeping herself from outright laughing at him.

“And you told him I must be sad because of my husband?” Kate asked. Her anger was better concealed but her jaw was tight and ever word had to be ground out. 

As dangerous as she was sure the agents could be together Annalee still wanted to laugh at them. They had managed to figure out what she had done and had _still_ missed the point. “Still not my exact words but yes.”

“You had no right,” Will said.

In one sentence all of the laughter left Annalee. Her fists clenched tight by her sides, nails digging into her palms, her jaw clenched shut and words almost escaped her. “Excuse you? You two sit in here making eyes at each other every night and then pretend not to. It is driving me, and everyone else, crazy. I had every right and I was trying to help you two sad cases.”

Will deflated a little at that but Kate just gave her predictable indigent “We do not.”

“Kate, everyone but you two knows.”

“There’s nothing to know.”

Annalee’s boiling frustration must have shown on her face because before she could get off her next rant Will said, “That’s not completely true,” flinching as he did.

Kate spun to look at him. “What?” 

Both women held their breath for the answer, for the confession. But there was no confession. Will just shrugged.

“I give up!” Annalee threw her hands up. “You don’t want to be happy.” With that she went back to the kitchen and left them to sort themselves out. 

* * *

The next morning Annalee was clearing a table, still going over the night before in her mind as she had been since. She had been so sure that Kate felt the same way about Will but the agent had seemed just as lost in the conversation as if she hadn’t ever had feelings for anyone. Annalee felt the wave of guilt wash over her at remembering Will’s face when he had shrugged. He had been ready to say goodbye. Annalee needed to apologize to him and try to fix things, though that was how she ended up in this situation so maybe not.

“Annalee,” Will said from halfway up the stairs on the other side of the room. She waited for him to make his way across the room to her, too distracted trying to compose her apology to notice the grin on his face. She opened her mouth to start but he just grabbed her and planted a firm kiss on her cheek. ”You are a genius and I love you.”

Annalee could feel her own eyes go wide and her jaw go a little slack in surprise before she said “You’re in a good mood today.”

“And why shouldn’t I be?” he asked, his grin getting wider with every word. “Kate said yes.”

“To what?”

“A show. I’m taking her out tonight and I owe it to you.” His grin hadn’t faded in the slightest as he spoke and she found it infections.

“Congratulations.”

“I have to go find a show for us. And see a man about some flowers. I’ll see you later.”

Annalee stood in shock as he all but skipped out the door and then turned to search the room for someone to share it with. Miyo was looking between the door and Annalee, making the older woman grin. “I told you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! Have some fluff from another character's perspective.


End file.
